HORSE BETTING

• Belmont Stakes Preview

  Posted on Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT by GetChalk

  
  

  The Belmont Stakes has always been the toughest race in the Triple Crown for a horse to win. Many of the horses that run the mile and a half race never run another stakes race at that distance again. And history has shown that the Belmont is usually the spoiler race that is won by a stamina-bred horse, often by one that hasn’t been a part of the Triple Crown picture. This year is no different, and horse racing fans will see some horses pushed into the limelight during the Belmont hype purely based on pedigree.

  The leading stamina-bred horse in this year’s Belmont Stakes is Charitable Man. He’s the son of 1999 Belmont winner Lemon Drop Kid and has been on a layoff from racing due to a saucer fracture to his shin that required surgery. He was away for seven months but returned to win the Peter Pan Stakes, beating Friesen Fire in the process. He recently went a half-mile in :47.88 under exercise rider Renzo Morales during a workout held earlier in the week. He is also 3 for 3 on dirt and 2 for 2 at Belmont Park. All things point to him being the horse that could step up and take the limelight away from Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird.

  “It’s great to think he’s by Lemon Drop Kid, who won a mile and a half race here,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who saddled Jazil to victory in the 2006 Belmont Stakes. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed for the next two weeks. We’ve always had a lot of confidence in this colt; it’s a shame we weren’t ready for the first Saturday in May, but he’ll be ready for the first Saturday in June.”

  There will be another horse running this year than was sired by a Belmont Stakes winner. Summer Bird is the son of 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone, and he has also been putting in good workouts the last few days. He was the only horse to work seven-eighths over the main track this week, and had splits of :24 3/5 and :48 3/5. Joe Talamo will ride Summer Bird in the Belmont, but Edgar Prado has been working with the colt to prepare him prior to the race.

  “I was happy with it,” trainer Tim Ice said of the sixth-place Kentucky Derby finisher. “It looked like he wasn’t handling it 100%, but that’s why we’re here early, to let him get a feel for it. It looked like he was spinning his wheels a little bit through the lane, but he came back in great shape.”

  Trainer Todd Pletcher will take another shot at a Triple Crown race this year when he enters Dunkirk in the Belmont. His last outing was a disappointing 11th place finish in the Kentucky Derby. The son of Unbridled’s Song put in a fast half mile of :47.24 last week. The grey colt was unraced as a two-year-old and made an impressive debut in his first two races, winning them both easily. After finishing second to Quality Road in the Florida Derby there were high hopes for him in the Triple Crown.

  Mine That Bird is a go for the Belmont Stakes but it’s still not been announced who will get the mount aboard the Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up. The jockey hasn’t been named mainly because the camp for star filly Rachel Alexandra has not announced if she will run in the final jewel of the Triple Crown. If she runs in it, Calvin Borel will likely be aboard the filly again. But if her workouts don’t show her to be in top condition and she is kept out of the Belmont, Borel is likely to be back aboard Mine That Bird once again.

  Which horse will be the morning line favorite will depend on the decisions made by Rachel Alexandra’s camp. If she runs in the Belmont she’s most likely going to come in as the favorite on race day. If she doesn’t run, it will be Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, followed by the promising Charitable Man.